"Looking to be a rock star at this place - feel free to send through your tips, but I think I've got this one covered," the email stated including two attachments -- a magazine clipping from Cleo and a Melbourne University course promotion.

The email quickly went viral after being sent to Citi bankers, then traders, then inboxes all around the world.

The piece of evidence that lead us to that conclusion was Cannon was the Cleo magazine interview and photo shoot he did while he was employed by UBS.

Cannon told the magazine that in order to be successful, "you need to be thick-skinned. I guess the 'alpha-male' type."

It seemed likely that someone may have been trying to see just how thick this rookie banker's skin really was. Turns out, that's at least closer to what happened than Cannon sending the email himself, which is how it originally appeared.

We put in a phone call earlier this week to Citi's New York headquarters and their PR firm told us they would look into the matter.

Citi is carrying out an internal investigation after the email came to light last week. It is understood the investigation is examining how the email was sent on Cannon's behalf and the bank's internal IT and security systems.

It is understood the scandal has also raised questions from Citi's headquarters in New York.

An Australian Citi spokeswoman said the email was a hoax and not sent by Cannon.